The word cobalt was first used towards the end of the fifteenth century. The German word Kobold means ‘goblin’ or ‘evil spirit’. The miners used this word to describe a mineral that was very difficult to mine and also posed health hazards.
When the mineral was heated, it gave off an offensive gas that caused illness. The gas that affected the miners was arsenic trioxide which is often present with cobalt in nature.
In 1735, a Swedish chemist, Georg Brandt analyzed a dark blue pigment found in copper ore. Brandt demonstrated that the pigment contained a new element, later named cobalt. But cobalt-based blue pigments have been used to make jewellery and paints since a very long time. Remember the cobalt blue colour in your oil paint set? The name comes from this metal.
Cobalt is usually produced by reductive smelting. It is one of only three naturally occurring magnetic metals.
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